Rangers Apprentice: Rise of the Assassin's
by Azteza
Summary: When a killer is unleashed in the realm of Araulen the team must once again travel to save nobles from this killers wrath. But things better left in the past are unleashed as well, and what if the rangers are on the killers list too?  After book 10, but before the lost stories
1. Chapter One: George's Find

EVANDER

"On this day, gathered here before you are Sir Horace Altman and…" as cardinal Jackson prattled on about religious

things and the holy sanctity of marriage and such, Evander, crouched on the rafter beams of the church, looked

directly down, from the depths of his hood, hoping that the huge twenty-five by six foot rug was hard enough for

what he had in mind. The church that everyone was in was the church directly outside Castle Araulen, and it didn't

have a name. The church was huge, as in like massive and the walls where fifty feet high, and the wall behind the

altar was fifty feet across, same with the back wall. The other two walls, where sixty feet across. The rows of

benches in the church, where twenty feet in width, and gave someone about two feet of room in front of them and

two feet of room in width. There were a total of thirty benches per side in the church, bringing a total of sixty, twenty

foot long benches, holding ten people per bench per side, which came to a total of six hundred people that could fit

in the church. There were stained glass windows lining the church walls. On the right hand wall was a fifty foot long

bookcase, ending at the raised altar. Time ticked by as the procession drudged on, a seemingly happy mood, in air.

It was sad that the mood had to end so soon. He looked up at the couple, about to be wed, oblivious to all else.

There was Horace Altman, Korokuma of the Nihan-Jan's, Sunrise Warrior of the Hibernian's, the Oak Leaf Bearer of

the Gallican's, with his most prestigious title, Champion of Princess Cassandra of Araulen, whom today he was being

wed too. Then there was the Princess her self, who helped create the treaties between the Toscan's and the Arridi,

as well as the Skandians, most of which, was done by Will Treaty, who was to Horace's left, being his best man. Will

was wearing a funny little cape, and very fine garments. He had two knives in an ornamented belt at his side. He

scanned the crowd, making sure everyone had there attention on the procession. He saw Halt, who Evander knew

quite well, sitting in the front row, smiling up at Horace and Cassandra, holding hands with Lady Pauline, to his left.

He had the knives too. On Cassandra's right, resided Alyss Mainwaring, the bridesmaid. She was carrying a bouquet

of flowers. Evander knew that Will and Alyss where to be married, in two months, as there jobs permitted. Evander

knew a lot in fact. It's amazing what you find out when you stick to the shadows. Of course, there is a lot you didn't

find out too. Like that man in the opposite row from Halt and Pauline, wearing glasses, sitting next to the rather

plump girl who was wearing a wooden ladle at her side, he looked like he genuinely knew Horace, Will, and Alyss. He

looked at the knives again, sure that Will knew how to use them. _That could be painful,_ he thought. He glanced up at

the clock directly above the altar, and silently swore to himself. He hadn't been paying attention! He may have…

there; he had just heard the three ticks coming from the wall behind him. He stood from his crouching position,

standing now, on the rafters. Once again he glanced down at the giant rug that had been residing in the church for

god knows how long and hoped it was hard enough for his plan. It was only two seconds until the next ticks, and

then it was go time. He glanced over at the four bodies he had stored on top of the giant bookcase, stretching from

one end of the church to the other. It was bad enough that they posted guards all around the church, but inside it

too? And four of them where standing on little platforms, hastily constructed up above, and it was hard to kill them

with out letting them fall or letting blood soak through. Evander was lucky that there had been a bookcase, else he

might have had to store them on the platforms, and then there feet would have been sticking out, which could have

been noticed by the noble's children, down below. Kid's always seemed to notice things like that. But still, it was not

time to think about kids noticing things. Another three ticks. Evander ran right across the rafters, hopping lightly for

one to the other, with out noise, as his master had taught him, all those years ago. When he reached the fourth one

before the final one, forty feet off the ground ready to pounce on the cardinal, when he came running towards the

door, he heard the bang, as the wall blew in. He had been surprised when he found it so easy to put the bomb, on

the wall when everyone was in the church. Then again the procession hadn't started yet and there was a lot on

noise at the time, and that made all the difference, didn't it. The crowd of people below, jumped at the noise, turning

their attention towards it. From all places inside the crowd, and from Will, a knife shot into view. The guards pulled

out there weapons a moment to late. Evander frowned, he knew Will was a ranger, but he what he didn't know,

was that he had invited his entire group of little ranger friends too. _Paranoid people aren't they?_ He also wondered

how they had honed there reaction skills so well. Then he laughed at himself, how had he done it? _Duncan must _

_have wanted top security, inviting all the rangers._ Ah and there was the great King now, staring about madly, as if

anyone, dared threaten his little girl, on her big day. Evander felt he had waited long enough, the Rangers and

guard's where just letting their guard down again, thinking that it was just something falling outside. It was a very

windy day, and he had set the bomb so it would blow up facing the outside of the church. It was a good plan,

making sure that they thought something wrong, and then when they finally thought; oh there is nothing coming to

get us… BOOM! There is something to get you, you foolish people! There was a creaking noise. Evander turned his

head around slowly, and was shocked to see the wall had been completely torn open, he had wanted a little chunk

falling, not a big one. Luckily, not the entire portion of the wall had caved, and it looked like the majority of the non-

caved portion, was about to fall inside. He hadn't measured the explosion right, he obviously put in too much

gunpowder. The rangers sheathed there knives. Evander, quick as he could, reached into one of the many pouches

at his belt, and threw down a smoke bomb. He smiled as it blew up, the carpet was hard enough. There where

several screams, as chaos reined, and after a few seconds, once he was sure that the cardinal started running,

Evander jumped down, and felt something go whooshing by his head just as he left the rafters, and he heard them

thud into the dull wood right, beside where his head would have been. _Wow, _he thought, _the rangers have good _

_accuracy, even if they can't see their target._ His legs tried to fold and absorb the impact as he landed on the cardinal,

who was fleeing the scene, but he wouldn't let them. He landed, catlike on top of the cardinal, and he brought him

to the ground. _Good, I timed my jump right. _Then he stood up straight, got off the cardinal, who was dazed and

winded because of the adrenaline pumping through his veins, and then Evander lifted him into a standing position.

"Thank you for taking that falling piece of stone off of me!" he exclaimed loudly looking light headed as he looked up

into Evander's hood. When he saw what was there all color drained from his face. "No, please don't!" he whispered,

now fully alert, trying to step back, for he knew what was coming. "This is your fault, Jackson, you brought this upon

yourself." Evander said a look of deep sorrow on his face. He flicked his left hand out and a blade appeared,

springing from a mechanism attached to his wrist, and he whipped his hand around so it slammed, full force, into the

cardinal's head. Blood spurted from the fatal wound, and then slowly gushed down the side of his head. The blow

had killed him instantly. Evander threw him off his blade, and flicked is wrist again. The blade retracted back into the

mechanism. Then before the smoke could clear, he ran, up to the book case, scaled it, fast as a monkey, and broke a

window, ensuring his escape.

WILL

The day was going great. He had woke up that morning, cleaned him self, put on his ceremonial ranger clothing, and

combed his hair. Then he went over to Alyss's rooms at Redmont Castle, to pick her up, on Tug. When Alyss came

down the stairs, Will did a double take. She had he blonde hair in a bun, and she was wearing a blue dress, which

came just above her ankles. "What, no couriers badge today?" Will teased, "Oh," replied Alyss, "just because you

don't have any other _good_ cloths to wear doesn't mean you get to take it out on me. And by the way, I am officially

off duty." Will laughed, and Alyss gave him a smile. He helped Alyss up onto Tug then turned his upper body and

gave Alyss a kiss. Then he turned around and rode to the church. As they walked in, they heard a lot of noise, as the

servants that where there worked hard on the decorations. King Duncan stood beside the altar, shouting a million

different commands at once, wile a group of people stood directly behind him, speaking quietly with occasional

glances at the King. Will and Alyss presented themselves to the king, bowing and curtsying alike. He dismissed them

with a wave of his hand, and they went and joined the group people behind him. "Hey Horace," said Will "How's it

going?" Horace didn't say anything. "He's overly nervous, but that's okay because a touch of nervousness can

actually improve-" George never got to finish his sentence. Because he was given a bear hug by Will. "Um, yes it is

good to see you too." He finished. George had been away on a top secret mission for the scribe's master, so

naturally everyone knew about it. He was sent to find an old type of order of some sort, called the Issassano. He

had sent someone from his party ahead, to bring the news that the Issassano where eradicated, and had been for

the past forty years. "We didn't know you where back!" Horace exclaimed. "Well I'm not really," George explained,

"I'm still back at the castle that we found, trying to break into all the locked rooms we found, which, naturally is, all

of them." Then Will heard it, a slight _swoosh_ as someone walked across the carpet behind him. And the _swooshing _

was way to light to be a normal person's walk. It was either a ranger, or a very small person. Will favored his

chances that it was the first of the two choices. He loosened his saxe knife in its sheath and spun around crossing

its blade with the one that was coming at him, flicking his wrist, in such a way, that his opponent was disarmed.

"Knew I shouldn't have taught you that one." Said Halt, everyone exclaimed remarks loudly, as they had not seen

him coming. "Your getting old, Halt" laughed Will. "And with age comes, wisdom, as you are forgetting one thing." He

replied. "What's that?" Will asked. "You always check for an accomplice." a different voice said. A saxe knife slid in

front of his neck. "How could you have forgotten that one Will?" Gilan smiled at him. The rest of the day went

smoothly after that. The preparations got done, (with much shouting by King Duncan) and Alyss went off to join

Cassandra, who was in the horse shed outside the hall, which had been prepared in such a way, that one could

wait there without getting dirty. A slow trickle of people appeared flowing into the hall, and they all took there

respective seats, ranging from the craft masters, to the Hierarchy's of other country's. Will took his place next to

Horace, and the organ started playing. Will had never seen an organ before, as he never really had time to go to

church, as he was constantly doing ranger things. Religion wasn't a big part of ranger things. Will scanned the

crowd, and was satisfied, all the rangers where there. King Duncan had wanted the best security, and to him it was

many rangers and many guards. To Crowley, it was many guards, and three rangers. Of course the King eventually swayed Crowley into making the decision that all rangers had to

be there. It was, but with so many important people there, the King HAD to have the best security. Of course no one knew that the rangers where

there, as they where all under different aliases, of randomly created lords and lady's of far off castles and such. King

Duncan couldn't affiliate himself with all his subjects, could he? The procession went on Alyss behind Cassandra, as

they entered the church, the women gasping as they saw Cassandra's dress, and so on and so forth. There was a

moment, when Will thought he saw a flicker of movement, when something shifted, but then he remembered that

King Duncan had earlier posted sentries, on top of the rafters, and dismissed it as nothing. The cardinal of Castle

Araulen, named Jackson, started the procession"…Sir Horace Altman and Princess Cassandra of Araulen, to be wed

here today in this church…" the cardinal went on, speaking of marriage and why it was so sacred, but Will was so

happy, he couldn't have cared less. He was surrounded, by friends, and basically family, and they where happy so

he was happy. BOOM! There was a big thundering sound, and the doors to the church where thrown opened by a

sudden gust of wind. A guard went outside to investigate. Meanwhile, Will, Halt, and all of the other rangers in the

room had there saxe knives out. Cardinal Jackson faltered, and then kept plowing right through the service. Will and

the other rangers sheathed there blades. _It was nothing._ He thought. At the corner of his vision he saw something

flicker, up in the rafter beams, he turned his head and saw a face, features hidden by a hood, perfectly still in the

rafters. He watched entranced, as his hand went to a pouch by his side, and pulled out a small object. He raised his

arm. Realizing what he was going to do and pulled out his knife just as the man threw the object to the ground. The

object hit the ground and exploded, smoke curling off the thing like an evil disease. As soon as the smoke reached

the altar, the cardinal started running towards the door, which he couldn't see. Then Will glanced back up, and

threw his knife at the man in the rafters. His knife was a moment to late, for the man jumped, and the knife thudded

into the wood, where his head just was. Then he looked back at the cardinal, and saw the end of his robe whirl into

the smoke. Will cursed; the man who jumped was in there! And after a moment's hesitation, he ran after the

cardinal. He ran for a few seconds, and as he was running he tripped over something and he slammed, face down,

into the floor. He looked at what he had slipped over, and he saw the Cardinal lying with his face towards the doors,

blood leaking from his head, eyes blank. There was a tinkling sound, as if someone near by, was breaking glass. The

screams slowly stopped as the people realized that it was just smoke, and that no harm was befalling them. Then

after what felt like an eternity staring at the Cardinal's dead eyes, the smoke cleared. Everyone looked over at Will,

and then the screams started again.

"Who could have done this?" Halt proclaimed as he paced around the room, like an agitated animal "I mean we had

the top most security possible, and yet, we still allowed someone to get hurt, or rather to die." Around the table that

had been quickly erected beside the altar, sat Horace, Will, Halt, George, King Duncan, and Crowley. Well Halt was

actually pacing, but there was a spot reserved for him. Cassandra had run off crying, saying that everything was

ruined, and because of that Horace was in shambles. Alyss had run off after Cassandra, saying something about

calming her down. Horace looked up "I don't care right now," He snapped, "Cassandra is in tears, the whole

wedding went wrong, and I, for one, am not letting this day go, without marrying Cassandra, even if all our guests

have been evacuated, from the church." "No." King Duncan was in an outrage, he did everything right, he was sure

of it, and yet, still everything seemed to go wrong. On his daughter's big day, the day he had been waiting for his

whole life, the most joyous day ever, something had gone wrong. Will looked up, still in shock from falling over a

dead man's body. Of course he had seen dead bodies before, and he had killed, but on those occasions the person

or persons had to be killed for a good cause, but this, this was just plain murder. As he looked up, he observed that

it was an understatement to say that the King was pissed. "We are tracking this killer down, before you marry

Cassandra." He said angrily. "Why?" said Horace, now rising to a similar level of anger. "Because," said Crowley,

"This has been going on for months." For once Halt looked genuinely surprised. Will felt the same way, as did

everyone at the table, "What do you mean?" Will asked. "The Duke of Kartaberia, for one." Crowley answered

looking at Halt, pointedly. Halt paled, "What do you mean? What about him?" He asked, "What I mean is, he died

similarly, with the same wound to the head, two months ago." Crowley answered. Halt's mouth was hanging open

just a fraction of an inch. Then he snapped back to reality and let out a gasp. "What do you mean he is dead?" He

questioned. Crowley sighed, "I wanted to tell you sooner, but I didn't have time what with the wedding

preparations. And before you say; but two months ago was way before the wedding! Let me tell you that we only

found out, about two weeks ago, which was when we started pulling all the rangers in for the wedding." Halt buried

his face in his hands. "Yes," said Duncan "I have to have a word with you about that." His expression was one of a

tiger, wounded, but still strong enough to eat whatever came to close to it. And it looked hungry. "All fifty-one

rangers, and I ordered all of them! And yet they let a single killer escape? How could this happen?" He was

calming down a bit but not by much. "I don't know sir, but we," Crowley said, referring to the ranger corps, even

though it was just him who knew about the man, "have good intelligence information on this killer, we have been

observing the killers pattern over the last few years, and it seems like-" "Last few years!" Duncan roared, completely

throwing courtesy in the garbage, obviously pissed again, "If," Crowley said calmly, "you would allow me to finish my

sentence, maybe you would have found out why we haven't caught this man yet. But it sounds like you don't want

to know so…" Crowley let his sentence trail off, and Duncan nodded once, signaling him to resume. "Anyway, this

man knows how to evade us, and track us, as well as people and guards. I don't even know how he got in here! We

had two rangers replace the ushers, and the checked every single person that got in or out. It is most strange.

Anyway he has been killing in no pattern I can see, and he seems to be killing nobles and holy men at random." King

Duncan looked at Crowley and asked "Who are these nobles and holy men?" Crowley went up to the King and

quickly whispered the names in his ear. With each word the King seemed to pale more, and when he reached the

last name, the King let out a strangled cry. His face then made itself into a stone hard mask. He said "Halt, you and

your team will go out and hunt this man with whatever information Crowley arms you with, also take one other

ranger." "I will, sir, but before we go, how is it that you have been observing his killing patterns, though you say he has none, even though the first kill that we know of is the Duke

of Kartaberia?" Halt said. "Oh," said Crowley, "Well, that was the first kill that YOU know of. You remember Boris?" Halt nodded, "He was the one killed by the puncture wound to

the..." Halt's mouth fell open in shock. "...Head thats right." finished Crowley, " He has made quite a few kills in Araulen as well. We just didn't know it was him the whole time."

Halt and Duncan both went white in the face. Boris, whoever he was, was obviously very well known.

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THIS KILLER!" Horace snarled. "I am not going anywhere until I have married Cassandra." King

Duncan opened his mouth to tell Horace that if he disobeys him, he won't let him marry his daughter, but Will got

there first. "Well before we do or say anything hasty," He said with a worried glance at the King "Let's just find out,

where do you think this killer is based?" "Well, his first kill was on the Isle of Kartaberia and so was his second to

latest, judging from the majority of the information i have collected on him, and I have managed to track him a tiny bit, using my informers that are all over Araulen, and from all

the information I have conveyed, it seems that his lair is on Kartaberia, very well hidden, underground or something

like that." Crowley stated. "Oh," George had finally piped up, the whole table jumped, they had all forgotten that

George was there, given the fact that he was so silent. "Kartaberia is where my team was sent by the scribe's

master, to find a hidden castle. He said it would most likely be underground, and as it is, it is in a mountain, all that

there is above ground, is a really big tower, and a big stack of hay on the ground." Everyone looked at George

shocked. "So the scribe's master knows of something this?" said Halt. "It seems so" George replied "Well?" said King

Duncan "Did you find the castle?" George looked straight at the King. "Yes."


	2. Chapter Two: The Burning City

Chapter Two: The Burning City

WILL

The water on the sea, like most water on the sea was sometimes choppy and pitchy, and sometimes calm and collected. Of course, for the five hours that they battled against the

winds, the sea was choppy and pitchy, probably just because Halt was on the boat. Gilan and George found it highly amusing. When Halt threatened to take their ears off, they of

course, stopped. Horace kept himself confined to the stables that where hastily put up on the ship, and he kept to himself and Kicker. Will could tell that Horace was still fuming over

the disruption at his wedding. Will had decided that he was going to bring Ebony, who was fast asleep in Tug's stable, who seemed to be having something of a snorting contest with

Gilan's horse, Blaze. Gilan was standing to his left, in deep conversation with George about his findings on Kartaberia. "Well, we are still trying to decipher these weird papers we

found. I mean, I can tell they where once separate papers, but now they are bound into this great big book. Its about… this big?" George arranged his hands so that the described a

book about six inches by six inches, and about four inches thick. "All across the pages, there are rough sketches of things, and the blacksmith we brought with us, well he is

actually a blacksmith's son, drafted into the army, says that they would be VERY complicated for a normal blacksmith to build. It might be so complex, he says, that even the fabled

ranger blacksmiths couldn't build them." Of course, the ranger's blacksmiths where a dangerously guarded secret, mostly, people who knew about them where killed, but as it is

with all secrets, it seems that at one point or another, EVERYONE knows about it. "But I thought," Gilan said, "That all the doors where locked?" George nodded, "The majority of

them still are, we managed to break down a few before I was called back, and I gave command to one of the junior scribes under me. He should have proceeded to archive as many

things as he can, as well as collect new things along the way. That is, unless those blundering soldiers didn't break everything." George had a look on his face that Will knew from

childhood; it meant that George was infuriated about something or the other. Although now that he was older, it just made his face look like a puffed up tomato. "I swear, their

captain won't even attempt to take control of them, ever since we broke open the wine cellar at that castle, and oho! There was a generous amount of alcohol indeed, they have

been doing nothing but staggering around laughing their heads off! None of us scribes and archeologists and such can get any work done! And if we do, its sloppy second hand work,

because we constantly have to leave our work to take them to heed! I'm very happy that you rangers are coming, maybe now they will have some sense knocked into them.

Suddenly, there was a loud groan, as one of the oars snapped. It seemed it had hit a large rock, the Captain ran up to the oarsman and yelled at him for breaking _another_ oar, it

seemed that this man had done the same thing some days previously. But to Will it was of no matter. They docked in, and handed their travel papers over to the ferryman waiting

on the docks. Araulen had devised a new transport system, making it harder for smugglers to get things into big cities, or across sea's to smaller islands, like Seacliff, Will's old fief,

and Kartaberia, a newly acquired island. Of course, there where still private dockings and private things, but the system helped regulate travel a lot. Will and the others lead their

horses ashore, Horace still looking gloomy, and Halt looking overly relieved at having his feet back on land. George, who hadn't had as much sea travel as the rest of them, seemed

to be having a case of the wobbly legs, which was when your legs hadn't adjusted to being on solid ground again. George led them to a little office just after the docks became the

road. He put a few silver coins on the counter and said; "My horse please?" The old man behind the counter looked up with a toothless grin and nodded, "Fidelio, the big mare

around back please." A little boy of about the age seven popped out of no-where and ran around the back of the little shack, and into the big stables behind. He returned moments

later with a saddle slung over his back leading a horse behind him. He stopped in front of George, delivered his things to him, and went back into the shack. As they where riding,

George decided to give them a brief history lesson on Kartaberia, and why the scribe's master had sent him there. "Before Araluen started making ships, this island used to be a

Skandian port- a long way from Skandia, no? One day, a wolfship raided a part of the Araluen coast, and as consequence, they're ship was badly damaged. So they limped back here

to the port. They discovered, that the ship that was raiding Araluen with them hit another part of the coast, and then took off back to Skandia without them. So, they where stuck

on this little island, with a bunch of Araluen slaves. No one really knows why the Skandians didn't repair the ship and sail back home- some say the captain was injured, and he

died, and his crew couldn't figure out how to fix the ship or anything without him. Others say the crew was merely lazy." They all stopped for a moment, cresting the top of a hill.

George quickly wiped the mist away from his glasses, and put them back on. Below them was a big town. On fire.

EVANDER

Thump thump thump thump thump thump thump. That's all Evander could hear as he ran through the narrow alleyway. He heard the guard's footsteps not to far behind him as

he ran. It really sucked, whenever he came into town, the first person that saw him would always run to fetch the guard. Didn't help that the people thought you where an aimless

serial killer, and decided that they would join in on the hunt. Evander risked a glance behind him, and he saw a lightweight running not three paces behind him. He looked forward,

and saw a small crate. He accelerated, and putting one foot on the crate, jumped, bouncing off the wall with his other foot, spun, and kicked the guard in the face. He heard a

resounding SMACK as the guard's face hit the opposite wall. He backed out into the street. The guards had cornered him, and they where surrounding him. There where three

crossbows, two brutes, and seven lightweights. He counted about a dozen normal militia all armed with daggers and swords. Lucky for him, the crossbows where all lined up

together. He saw a militia with formal armor, most likely their captain, step forward. "I D-d-dema-n-nd that y-you set dow-down your weapons sir!" The captain shouted. Evander

scoffed. As if he was going to set down his weapons. The captain was scared of him, Evander could see that plainly. But when he tightened his jaw, and gave a nod to the guards

behind him, Evander knew what was coming before it happened. He heard the subtle rustle of muffled armor being moved, and without a second thought he took a step backward,

spun around the guard behind him, put his arm around his neck, and at the same moment, he heard the sound of all three crossbows being released. Evander released the man as

soon as he felt the bolts slam into him. He pulled his two daggers out of his sheathes at either side of his body, and immediately dove at the nearest guard, and rolled behind him,

impaling his right hand dagger in the guards lower back. The guard screamed, and Evander pulled his knife out before he crumpled to the ground. Another guard came at him with

his sword lunging out, and Evander ducked under the blade, lifted the guard up with his shoulders, and slammed him on the ground. He spun around, threw one dagger at a guards

chest, and when he was on one knee, ran forward, put one foot on the man's upright knee, pulled the dagger out, and used the guard as a spring board, to launch himself over the

guard behind him, and quickly spin and jab the other guard in the back of the neck. He backed away, so that the mass of the guard was now facing him, and none where to his

back. Suddenly, a guard ran at him, and delivered a powerful overhead stroke, intending to split Evander's skull in two. The sword never got there, as Evander used his right hand

dagger, slanted downward, to intercept the blow, sliding it off his dagger and onto the ground, and, quickly reversing the dagger in his left hand, spun around, and stabbed the guard

through his neck. He spun away quickly. The ground was a blood bath, and somehow, only the tiniest speck of blood had reached Evander's robes. Evander finally looked around,

and realized that he was in some sort of marketplace, and there where dozens of people watching them. The rest of the guards looked at Evander wearily, making a wall out of the

spears some of them had brought. Evander sheathed his daggers. The guards didn't look like they where going to give him too much more trouble. Evander saw a bright light in the

corner of his eyes. He looked over and saw a man running at him with a torch in one hand, and a pitchfork in the other. He saw his arm come back, and he saw the pitchfork flying

through the air. Evander deflected it with a dagger. The man kept running, just as Evander saw the spears being thrown at him. "First rule, never purposely harm an innocent." He

was trapped between that rule, and his death. Evander sprang at the man, who, not expecting this, flinched, and he threw the man into a stall to his right. Then, turning around,

he dove into the stall immediately behind him. He heard the puffs and the thuds of where the spears hit the ground and the wood of the stall, where Evander had been standing

just moments before. Suddenly, a loud hissing filled the air, and the man popped out of the stall he was in, and started running as fast as he could. Two guards detached themselves

from the group, and went over to investigate the hissing noise. "RUN!" Shouted one of the guards, him and the other sprinting away as fast as they could, "The torch is in the oil

stand!" Suddenly a loud BANG resounded throughout the market square. Vaguely through the ringing in his ears, Evander heard people screaming, and he peeked over the top of

the stall, where he saw a big black scorch mark, and that dozens of other stalls had caught fire. He heard a creak, and with a jolt, he realized that the stall he was in had caught

fire! He dove out of the stall, and sprinted away from the scene as fast as he could. The guards where to busy trying to contain the fire than to pay him any attention, so he easily

lost himself amongst the panicked crowd. He saw some scaffolding nearby, and climbed atop it to the roofs above. He ran the rooftops, and after a while, he came to the edge of

town. He climbed the highest tower of the city walls, and stood atop it, looking down at the city below. By now the fire had spread and almost half the city was on fire. Evander

looked over at the hilltop, where he knew that just below it, the port rested by the sea, and he saw five riders, and what looked like some sort of small animal, just watching the

city. Suddenly, one of the riders spurred his horse forward, and the others followed in suit. Evander thought nothing of it, they where probably just travelers, traveling the

araluenian coasts. Evander turned around and stared out over the city walls, to the lake of Esthetia, where his home was, on a little island, about one mile into the lake. He looked

down into the brush just beside the lake, where he knew he had concealed his canoe. He looked straight down, and turned around to once again survey the city before him. It was

a mess. He'd have to reach far into his pockets to repay the city for _this_ disaster. He turned back around, looking at the lake once more, took three steps back, and ran off the tower.


	3. Chapter Three: The Castle Under the Lake

WILL

They all sat upon their horses in shock, the five of them, and Shadow. Looking closely, Will realized that it only looked like the town was on fire- it was only the smoke of burning wood and hay that made the town seem hazy- only the central part of town, Will guessed it was a marketplace, was on fire, but the fire seemed to be spreading quickly. "Lets go!" Horace shouted, as he spurred his horse into action, taking off down the side of the hill. That was Horace for you. Always trying to help.

"Horace, NO!" Halt shouted, urging Abelard to fly off after Kicker. All that Will and the others could do was flick their horses into action, following the two- Halt, who was trying to slow Horace down, and Horace, who was rushing to the town as fast as he could. Kicker was rushing towards the gates of the city, it was a big stone archway, with two great Oakwood doors, and just behind those doors- "HORACE, STOP!" Will yelled suddenly, but not soon enough.

The great iron spikes that Will had seen, slammed down, as another set of spikes poked up from the ground, creating a mesh of iron that would be nearly impossible to get through. Kicker and Horace slammed right into the iron wall, with a sickening crunch. Halt stopped right beside Horace, who was lying on the ground- he was okay; he was only a bit shaken up. "That is why," Halt began, "I was-" "Save it!" Horace snarled.

Will was amazed. It never ended well when people talked to Halt like that. But Halt simply nodded, and moved out of the way. "Kicker!" Horace shouted suddenly, and started running towards his horse, when Kicker whinnied, flopped back on his feet and walked back towards Horace, wide eyed. Horace was still running towards Kicker when- fwwwwing- "Horace, DOWN!" shouted Will, and then Horace, still running, clicked his tongue twice, and slid to the ground, Kicker mirroring his movements.

Will and Halt already had their bows drawn and aimed at where the bolt had come from, for there was a crossbowman hidden behind the Iron Gate. It was then that they noticed several other crossbow tips sitting in the gaps of the iron gate. Will and Halt where very much outnumbered. "Good people!" came a shout from over the gate, "We mean you no harm! If the four of you could please drop your weapons, and state your business here, we would speak to you! If not, then please be on your way!" Will looked around and did a quick headcount. "Where the hell is George?" he said.

Halt looked around as well and said, "Look behind you." Will put the arrow back into his quiver, and spun Tug around, and saw George straggling some ways behind, he was sitting on his horse on the hill that they had just rode down, with a spyglass in his hands, looking at something. As Will watched, George snapped the spyglass closed and looked back at the rest of the party. He noticed that Halt had his bow drawn, and Will had his in hand, and urged his horse to a gallop.

He slowed down as he got close to Will and shouted, "Open up the gates Gerald!" "George?!" the guard shouted back "Who are these men?" George looked up and rolled his eyes, "These are the men that I brought with me to help me solve the castle mystery." Suddenly the iron gates sprang open.

A lightly armored man stepped out, with one hand on the hilt of his sword and the other on his hips. He was a young man, with a few days worth of stubble on his face and a small goatee jutting out. He had a large nose, which gave him an almost comical appearance. "Damn it George!" he said, "We almost shot your friends!" "Thank God you didn't!" George replied. "Will, Horace, Halt, Gilan, I'd like you to meet Captain Thomas Biardi. Captain, meet Will, Horace, Halt and Gilan."

They all nodded to each other in turn. "What was happening with the fire?" Horace asked. The Captain looked at him wearily, "That was dealt with." Halt and Will glanced at each other. It seemed that even being friends of George didn't give them a trusted status. "If its okay with you right know, we'd like to get a room at an inn somewhere." Said Halt. The Captain stroked his goatee thoughtfully, "Yes," He said, "I suppose there is some room at the Fox Trots inn."

Horace looked raised a surprised eyebrow, it wasn't often that a Captain of the guard knew a lot about the comings and goings of Inns in a town. Will bet that Horace was also wondering why security was so tight. The Captain motioned for them to follow him, and the party got off their horses and started to lead them through the town. "So," Said George, "What was up with that fire?" "That rampaging madman was up and about again," Said the Captain, "It seems that he picked up a torch and threw it into an oil stand to cause a diversion so he could escape. Lucky that nobody got hurt, considering the large oil kegs caught fire. He also injured a good number of my men, and killed a few others. If these friends of yours," He gestured at Will and company, "are as good as you keep saying they are, they have arrived at no better a time."

George nodded in thought, "They are, don't worry. Also, you forgot to mention that you have eagles on the island at this time of year. You know how interested I am in birds, and eagles are hard to come by on little islands like this." Captain Biardi stopped in his tracks and whipped his head around to look at George. "Eagle? Where?" "Well, over by the west wall, it was sitting on top of one of your guard towers, until it flew off into the distance." The Captain immediately took off running in the direction George had indicated, disappearing through side streets so fast that it was impossible for the rest of the group to follow him. "Well, that was rather odd," Said George "He's never run off like that before. No matter, the inn is this way." And on that note, George took the party to the Fox Trots inn, where they all settled in, and enjoyed a fine night of leisure and relaxation, all up until morning.

EVANDER

"Let… go… me…" The man was gasping for breath, barely able to use his arms to attempt to push his attacker off of him. Evander knew that the man had no chance of moving him- few did. And how dare this man, this old fool, find HIS canoe, and try to use it to ferry people around HIS Lake, all the while charging outrageous prices? Who did this man think he was? Evander shook the man in his grasp, causing his hood to fall off his head. The man went limp in Evander's arms, and Evander released his neck, dropping him with a loud clunk.

Evander didn't even care if he was dead or not; he just dragged him to the bushes, and dumped him there. He was getting majorly angry. So far, his last few days were going south. The townspeople where probably going to put another bounty on his head because 'he' set the town on fire. He didn't get any food, as he had been spotted this morning, and he had an object to acquire for a buyer the day before. AND someone had found his canoe while he was on the mainland, which meant that he needed to find a new hiding spot for his canoe. He pushed the said vessel out into the water, and jumped into it as lightly as he could.

The canoe barely rocked as he hopped in. He was pleased. He knelt down and scooped up his paddle, lowering his hood as he did so, and he made his way towards a distant pinnacle of rock in the distance. The townsfolk who had been out on the lake named this particular spire the finger. Why? Evander had no idea. It was literally a slab of rock jutting out about six feet above the water. It was as wide as two men, and was a rectangular shaping to it.

What most people didn't know, is that on top there is a small little rung, and if you pull on this rung, a trap door will open to below, leading down into the darkness, accompanied by a ladder and a lantern that can hang off of each rung, due to a small hook jutting off to the side of each rung. The canoe could be tethered off some fifty feet away, onto a piece of wood sticking out of the water. It was a favoured spot for fishers, so no one would look twice at a random boat tethered there, they would just assume a fisherman went for a swim.

How to get from the tether to the spire? Concealed just below the water where a series of wooden poles, that to the untrained eye, formed a random pattern, possibly the remainder of the ribs of a sunken ship, which in the end would be concluded as too big for the small lake anyway. The poles where actually there to be stepping stones. It required lots of skill to balance on each pole, and hop from one to the other without falling into the water.

"How many times have I fallen into the water?" Evander wondered to himself, grinning.

_A Memory:_

_Grand Master Pilora was sitting on top of the spire, old and feeble, having a very young Evander hop from pole to pole, and if he got to the spire, finding a way to get up without being hit by the Grand Master's mahogany cane. _

Evander hopped from one pole to the next, deep in thought. He looked up just in time to notice that the pole he was about to jump on was the one just before the spire. He quickly hopped onto the next pole, and from that onto the great pillar, hands finding familiar holds as he found his way up the side. He stood on the top, and grabbed the little rung, and as the doors swung open, he descended down the shaft. He dropped down into the long hallway and immediately noticed the cracked porcelain on the ground, and the three busted doors. Evander stopped moving, and stood completely still.

'_The library, the armory and the supplies storage.' _He thought with a curse. He heard quiet voices coming from within one of the busted doors- _the library_- and he crouch-walked his way over to the side of the door, the floor creaking a little when he stopped moving. "Did you hear that?" He heard a voice say, "Hear what?" a different voice, "there was no noise, it was just your mind playing tricks on you." The first voice again, then silence.

Evander waited a little, for the voices to resume their aimless chatter and he peeked inside. He felt a tidal wave of anger wash over him as he looked inside. Two guards had started a fire in HIS library. And though there was a fireplace, they had deemed it appropriate to start the fire in the middle of the library, where there was a risk of the many bookshelves catching fire. Luckily, the two guards had his back to him… for the moment. He crept into the room, staying on the same level of height… when one of the guards shifted his position slightly to the left. Split decision, strike now, or wait?

Evander chose to strike. He silently padded the rest of the distance, and picked it up to a sprint when he was about five meters away from them. One guard, turned slightly in surprise. "Whaa?" He couldn't even finish the word before Evanders blade went slicing through his neck, punching a hole into his throat. Almost simultaneously, Evanders other blade went through the back of the second guard's neck. They both fell to the floor, dead almost instantly. Evander quickly stomped out the small fire the guards had going, and checked around the room for any missing articles.

Everything was still in place. Evander looked down at the bodies on the floor. Lucky for him, his predecessors had thought something like this might happen at sometime. Evander went over to the fireplace, and moved the grate and the brackets for the wood. He clicked a concealed button, and with a loud grating noise, the bottom of the fireplace began to move. As it moved, repugnant smells rose up from the depth of the pit below. Evander, scrunching his nose, dragged the bodies over to the hole, and dumped them rather unceremoniously into the pit.

He clicked the same button again, and the floor of the fireplace moved back into place. Evander replaced the brackets and the grate, and then went to find something to mop up the blood with. One thing he loved about his blades; when they popped back into their sheaths, the blood was wiped off the by a small scrap of cloth on their way back. No cleaning to do there. The hidden blade was a thing of beauty. He went into the supplies storage and got a few rags, wondering how the intruders had got in, and how many more there were. As far as he knew, there were only two entrances, the spire and the tower… Evander stopped and thought about the last time he had checked the tower. It had been about three seasons ago… no four.

An entire year had gone by and he hadn't thought to check the tower for any forced entry or anything. The hay that provided a soft landing when he jumped off had probably gone bad as well, else passing traveler's horses had eaten it. He would need to be more cautious moving about the castle now. He tossed the rags on top of the blood, moping it up with his foot. Luckily the floors where made of marble in this room, so he didn't have to worry about the blood seeping into the floor. He finished wiping up the blood, and he heard footsteps coming from the hall. Many footsteps.

Kicking the rags into a nearby isle, Evander hoisted himself up onto one of the bookshelves, making sure to keep his robes in such a way that he could move easily, and not be seen. Seven guards entered the room: two lightweights, a brute in full armor, a captain and three regulars. "Dari?" one of the lightweights called "They said they would have a fire going by the time we got here…" another said. There were to many of them to fight, and yet he had to find a way to get them all out of his castle. They started looking around in different directions; one even went to far as to step into the row right beside Evander.

A plan slowly formed in Evander's mind… he checked to make sure the other guards had their backs turned before he dropped down into the aisle beside the guard, snaked a hand around his neck to cover his mouth, and stabbed him in the back with the hidden blade. Letting the man slide to the floor, he pulled out four throwing knives. Crouching low, Evander peeked around the next isle and saw one of the lightweights. He slinked into the isle, making sure no one could see him. Standing up to full height, he forced a cough and as the guard turned- there was a small swishing noise- and the expression on the guards face was almost comical, as his dead body fell to the floor, his bowels releasing, with a knife sticking out of his neck. A gurgling sound came from the guard's throat, as the blood leaked out. Evander climbed the shelves again. "What the hell is that smell?" he heard one of the guards ask. Deep voice, it seemed to reverberate when he spoke. That dictated that it was a big man- one of the brutes.

Slithering across the top of the shelf to where the voice was coming from, Evander looked below to observe the brute in his armor. _Left knee, left armpit, neck, right side,_ he observed. Evander hopped down off the top of the row, landing directly behind the brute. He heard his foot make a shuffling noise, and dove into the aisle behind and to the right of where the brute was standing. He heard the clinking of armor as the brute turned around. The brute was a lot bigger up close than he had been from above the isle, and yet the lowered visor on the brute's full helm restricted his vision so that he couldn't see Evander on the ground beside him.

_'Lucky'_ went through Evander's head before he acted. Evander waited till the brute had gotten three steps ahead of his position before he let the second knife fly into the chink in the brute's armor behind his left knee. Dashing forward, Evander slammed the third knife up into the brute's left armpit, and the fourth into his neck, just where the helm ended and the plate armor began. Surprise time was over, the brute had most definitely alerted the others to his presence- the guard had made a large noise as his armor crashed into the marble ground.

Evander ran back through the isles to the center of the library where they had all started, and saw the three regular guards peering about cautiously. Two had their spears lowered, and one had his facing the other side of the library, while none of them where looking in the direction they should have been looking- at _him_. Launching himself through the air, Evander let his hidden blades loose, slamming them full force into the bodies of the guard on the right and in the middle, tackling them to the ground as he did so. Evander retracted his blades, and rolled quickly to his feet, turning to face the third guard just as he felt something bite into his left shoulder spaulder. With no time to think about that, Evander faced the last regular guard, who had gotten his wits together and was facing Evander while calling for help. He jabbed at Evander, who caught the spear just below the head, thrust the butt of the spear back into the guards body, ripped it out of his now weak hands, slammed the butt into the back of the guards head, and twirling the spear, embedded it into his foe's neck.

Snatching up the spear again, Evander turned around to see the lightweight coming at him just in time for him to hurl the spear, catching the lightweight in the chest and breaking his weak leather armor, the lightweight then toppling to the ground. "Requiescat in pace." Evander whispered the ancient words as he silenced the man once and for all. Pulling the spear out of the guard's chest, he stood, and waited.

So as much as I hate to end the chapter on a cliffhanger like that, you guys probably wanting to know the rest of the battle, with what happens to the last brute and the captain and all, I know I hate it when chapters get dragged on for too long, and I could see this one going to far so… until next time.

~A.

PS: I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, ill try to make an effort to do more in the future.

EDIT: In the future, im going to do better with my spacing and such, but if y'all got any and all pointers for me that would be amazing. how does Line breaks and hitting ENTER every time someone starts to speak sound? feedbaaackk peoppleee :)


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